Saudi Arabia to offer 1GW of contracts to buy renewable energy

The Saudi government will offer power-purchase agreements for 620 megawatts of solar power and 4000 megawatts of wind power, Turki al-Shehri, head of renewable energy project development at the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources told Arabian Business.

Long term energy purchase deals will be guaranteed by the Saudi government which plans to privatise the utilities in the future, al-Shehri told the news site.

Saudi Arabia plans to have 10% of electricity generation from renewable sources by 2030, al-Shehri said.

"The kingdom has set a truly wonderful vision. The tenders that were recently issued, this is only the beginning of our accomplishment. We are open for business," he said, according to Arabian Business.

There will be local-content requirements in the programme to develop this capacity, he said.